Lightning News

Lightning Prospect Tracker: April 2

The Norfolk Admirals continued their historic winning streak by sweeping a two-game series against the St. John’s IceCaps last week, pushing their streak to 22 straight victories.

With a 49-18-1-2 record and 101 points, the Admirals have clinched the East Division title and have a magic number of one point to clinch first place in the Eastern Conference, which would give them home-ice advantage throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.

The Admirals have three chances to extend their winning streak this week, playing their final three home games of the regular season with a chance to clinch the AHL’s best regular-season record. Norfolk hosts Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday and Binghamton on both Friday and Saturday, currently holding an eight-point advantage over the Western Conference’s Oklahoma City Barons in the race for the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, which is the AHL’s equivalent to the NHL’s Presidents’ Trophy. The Admirals finish their regular-season with a three-game road trip to Albany, Binghamton and Adirondack which will run from 4/13-4/15.

Notables

By clinching the East Division title, the Admirals became the first AHL team solely affiliated with the Lightning to ever win its division.

Dustin Tokarski earned his AHL-leading 29th win of the season last Wednesday, when he recorded his fifth shutout of the season during a 2-0 victory over the St. John’s IceCaps. During Norfolk’s 22-game winning streak, Tokarski has gone 10-0-0, with a 1.70 goals-against average, .935 save percentage and three shutouts.

During the Admirals’ winning streak, Jaroslav Janus is has an Admirals franchise-record 12 straight wins, along with a 1.41 goals-against average, .945 save percentage and one shutout.

The Admirals have outscored their opponents, 86-34, during their winning streak. For the season, they have 19 more goals scored than any other AHL team and have allowed 20 fewer goals than any other team in the Eastern Conference.

Tyler Johnson saw his 13-game point streak (11g, 15a) end during Saturday’s win over St. John’s. However, he still leads the Admirals with 33 points (14g, 19a) during the 22-game winning streak, while ranking second among AHL rookies in points (63) for the season.

Cory Conacher maintains the AHL’s goal-scoring lead with 34 goals. He leads rookies in points with 73 (34g, 39a), which is second in overall AHL scoring.

117 of Norfolk’s league-best 252 goals scored have come from rookies.

Mark Barberio leads AHL defensemen in assists (46) and points (57). His 57 points are the most that a defenseman on a Lightning AHL affiliate has ever had in a season.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie leads the AHL in plus/minus with a +31, while Tyler Johnson’s +27 ranks third and Mark Barberio’s +23 ranks fifth.

Bolts Beyond the AHL

The Lightning’s ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades, is in the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the 14th straight season. Seeded fifth in the Eastern Conference, they begin their playoff run on Monday night against the Greenville Road Warriors (New York Rangers).

Vladislav Namestnikov and the London Knights completed a four-game sweep of the Windsor Spitfires in the first round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. Namestnikov had three points (1g, 2a) in the first round for the Knights, will face the Saginaw Spirit in the second round of the OHL playoffs.